Portraits: Looking For Advice

AnotherNewGuy · Nov 3, 2009

I have been doing well with photographing inanimate objects. Portraiture is a whole other ball of wax. I have always had problems with color editing due to my color blindness (reds & greens). I would just like some advice based on the following pictures. I didn't charge anything for these of coarse. I am brand new to this type of work. I hope to post images on here often and learn from all of you out there that know what you are doing. Eventually, turning a profit, would be nice... you know, like everyone else would like to do.

Used my new Nikon D300s. Unfortunately I don't have a f/2.8 telephoto yet... but I made do. Didn't use any flash for these, although a reflector would have been nice. I missed some really good chances for great captures.

Anyhow, not looking to get ripped apart here, just some tips on what to work on. I will apply them next time, and then hopefully continue in a cycle of improvement. You can see the "noseeums", ironically, in a couple shots. I guess I could stamp them out...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

I have a lot more.

Felix0890 · Nov 3, 2009

-There's a lot of harsh lighting. Like you said, a reflector would have been great help in evening out the shadows.

-2&5 are overexposed. It's very sunny in these and you used 5.6 as the aperture. You could have stopped down the lens a bit more. Also, having the ISO above 100 on this type of weather is not needed.

- For shots like #2, I would either shoot vertically (portrait) or move back/zoom out so I can capture their entire bodies.

-For #1, that pole is blocking his face. I understand that there might not have been much room to work with if it was on a boat or deck, but something blocking his face won't work. Also, you can't see the girl's face so the picture is pretty useless. No faces = no subject unless you really like to see the back of people's heads. :lol:

- #3 is kinda hard to take due to them being backlit. A reflector or flash would help here so that they're not in 100% shade.

#4 is the best.

What the hell are those things in #5? I really hope for your gear's sake that it's not sand.

AnotherNewGuy · Nov 3, 2009

those are little bugs. very annoying!!

Thank you for the advice. I have a set of reflectors on the way, and a flash.

I had the ISO on 100 (or so I thought). Maybe I over brightened in PS... I usually wouldn't do that though.

thanks again.